Paint Stripping 101 and...Zolatone!

Last weekend we went to the hardware store, got ourselves some nasty chemical paint stripper and dove headfirst (with respirators on) into attempting to expose the shiny aluminum that we knew was underneath the 50 years of most likely lead-based paint inside the Airstream. After 6 coats of the nasty stuff, and both of us scraping with plastic scrapers hour after hour, we were pretty tired and here's what we had accomplished:

The aluminum was showing through, but a nasty film of something that we were pretty sure wasn't quite paint still remained. A little web research to our friendly Air Forums and we quickly learned about "Zolatone." It was a TOUGH layer of primer/auto body paint used in the 50s and early 60s. Someone said that they thought 1965 was the last year it was used in Airstreams. We have a 1963, ugh. Many folks had run out of energy trying to strip the paint from their aluminum and simply ordered new skins! No way we said, that would be way too much $$. So we went in search of an answer and stumbled upon this blog about another 1963 Overlander named Moonraker of all things! Citrastrip - a much less toxic stripper, and plastic razor blades (of all things!) are totally the answer! Two coats of the pink goo:

 

And some plastic razor blade scraping, then a quick shine with mineral spirits and Blue has some shiny aluminum walls to show off! We really like the way they look :)

 We also learned that the area above Jacob is actually fiberglass. Our trailer has fiberglass endcaps at both ends, so those parts will actually get painted. But we are hoping to expose the rest of the ceiling and walls into a nice light-reflecting aluminum.

As I finished up scraping the walls, J went to work on another project. The original propane-electric heater was still stuck inside the trailer. In order to extricate it, the exterior heater vent had to be removed in order to get access to the screws keeping the heater in place! The heater came out and we were left with a hole in the side of the trailer. J is so creative - he removed the all-aluminum sheet that encased the original fridge (see below):

 

 ...and created a patch for the trailer. The heater is the big box in the picture below on the left. The patch is now riveted on there and looks great! 

 J using his riveter!

That's all for now folks...don't fall in my bucket of slime :) You should be able to subscribe to get email updates now if you'd like. Just enter your email address in the feedburner box up top.

Down and Dirty in the Airstream

We got busy on the Airstream again today after a two-week hiatus. We have been on our Puget Sound Paddle Party kayaking trip and then hanging out with my mom and Pete, who arrived from Canada to spend a beautiful autumn week with us. We saw a superpod of whales go up the west side of the island, paddled out of Roche at sunset, and did lots of fun island things. Then we all headed over to Camano Island for my cousin Laura's wedding. Yesterday I got to go in a rennovated bus that a friend-of-a-friend told me about. Guisepi has been living out of Edna for 4 years and the bus has some very cool features that gave me lots of ideas! He installed the Little Cod wood stove from Navigator Stove Works over on Orcas Island, and I was psyched to hear his very positive feedback on it. His roof has a 200 watt solar panel on it, which powers a neat Engel fridge, all his lights, and more. He travels around in his bus and gives out free tea! Very inspiring :)

So....today was actually the first time since we bought Blue Moon that J and I have had a chance to work on the airstream together. We started by going to our local thrift/salvage yard to gain inspiration! We found lots of usable parts that will be great - we resisted buying anything until we are actually ready. We got to work, and J removed our curvy bathtub! That and the toilet/black water tank were a bit of a bear to extract. After today's adventures, all that really remains are the fridge and an old electric heater. Jacob plugged in the heater just for grins today - it made lots of noise, threw a spark, then blew the breaker. I think it's toast. Tomorrow we begin stripping all the nasty paint on the inside of Blue!

Jacob in the tub!

Tub is now posted for FREE to pick up and take away!

Maggie demonstrates the size of the galvanized steel water tank that took the both of us to lift out of Blue.

We are very lucky to have a small shed on our property that we have been putting all of the wood pieces and cabinetry in that we would like to try and re-use in Blue. The shed keeps everything nice and dry! This shed is so cute and so well built that sometimes I just want to live in it :)